Chewy Sugar Cookie Recipe

Holiday Sugar Cookies the Lazy Girl's Way

Ever since I was little, one of my favorite holiday traditions has been to spend hours painstakingly lovingly decorating cut-out Christmas cookies. And while not a year passes without an afternoon spent doing just that, sometimes a quick fix is in order.

Chewy Sugar Cookies

Notes

Variations: Stir in bits of dried fruit, like chopped dried fig or apricot. Grate in lemon peel and a squeeze of lemon juice in lieu of the vanilla extract.

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups (13 3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 sticks (8 ounces) softened butter

1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) white sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 to 4 tablespoons buttermilk, plus more for brushing cookies with

Sprinkles or colored sugar, for decorating

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in dry ingredients. Add enough of the buttermilk to moisten the dough and make it soft, not wet.

Roll rounded teaspoons of dough into balls, and arrange them on an ungreased cookie sheet, 20 cookies to a cookie sheet (they will spread considerably). With a pastry brush, moisten the top of each cookie with buttermilk, and slightly flatten the top of each cookie. Sprinkle with colored sprinkles.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until just barely golden at the edges. Let stand for 2 minutes before carefully removing to cool on a rack.